Striker Frank Nouble will again miss out with a hamstring injury when the Blues take on fellow play-off contenders Wigan at Portman Road on Saturday, but midfielder Anthony Wordsworth is fit again following a back problem which has kept him out of the last two squads.

Manager Mick McCarthy says Nouble should be fit for next week’s trip to Brighton: “Frank’s still unavailable but Anthony Wordsworth’s trained and he’s fine.

“Frank will be OK for the next one, he’s that stage where he thinks he might be all right but I’m not interested in ‘might be all right’ because with 10 games to go after this and them all coming thick and fast I’ll need everybody fit and he has to be at full tilt to be effective for us. Everybody else is fine.”

Following Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at Yeovil, McCarthy is likely to stick with his familiar backline with Dean Gerken in goal, Luke Chambers skippering at right-back, Aaron Cresswell at left-back and Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith in the centre of the defence.

The Town boss will probably switch to a 4-3-3 formation to counteract Wigan’s similar system with Cole Skuse, Luke Hyam and Paul Green likely to be the midfield trio.

On-loan Crystal Palace man Jonny Williams looks set to be handed his first start for the Blues having impressed from the bench on Tuesday, perhaps on the left of a front three with Daryl Murphy continuing in the centre.

Paul Anderson also impressed at Huish Park and could again start in the right-sided role, while Paul Taylor is another option.

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is likely to be used from the bench at some stage having made his first league start in almost a year against the Glovers.

Top scorer David McGoldrick remains the only long-term absentee with the medial knee ligament injury which is likely to have ended his season.

The Town boss was pleased with the way his team bounced back from their 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough at Yeovil: “I think we recovered remarkably well after the Middlesbrough game because we did look a bit flat.

"It’s not always about us, what about giving the opposition a bit of credit and I thought they played well at home with good players, they dominated the game.

“For us to respond the way we did, to travel to Yeovil, another 250-mile trip, and play as well as we did and as energetically and as disciplined as we did, I thought it was a really good performance.

“It says a lot about the players, their powers of recovery, both mentally and physically. We did have the cryotherapy unit — the ice chamber helping them to recover - in here and the lads do think it makes a difference.”

He says he would have been happy with three points from the two long treks had been offered them on the way to Teesside a week ago: “I guess I would have taken that before the Middlesbrough game.

"It is bonkers, if you go away and don’t get beaten in two games, you think ‘We’ve done all right there’ but you end up with two points. If every away game we won one and lost one, I’d take that all day long.”

The Town boss says his side should never have lost 2-0 when they faced the Latics at the DW Stadium in September: “It was probably one of our best performances, never mind away performances, but it gave us nothing.

“They’d been and played away on the Thursday in the Europa League and we were all over them but we couldn’t score and we made two mistakes that cost us the game.”

While the Town boss says that that Europa League campaign didn’t help Wigan’s challenge to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, he says their FA Cup win last season and last week’s vanquishing of Manchester City will have given them confidence and have restored some of that competition’s sheen.

“You don’t have to play the FA Cup in any places I can’t spell or pronounce or never been before, and my passports full of stamps!” he said.

“The FA Cup’s completely different, it’s been the biggest cup competition of league teams, arguably, in the world. They've brought the magic back again, last year they did it and this year they’ve done it again.”

Town have kept clean sheets in their last four home games and will be looking to extend that run to five for the first time since a streak which was split between the end of the 1979/80 and 1980/81 campaigns during Sir Bobby Robson’s time in charge. The last time it was achieved during a single season was under Bill McGarry’s management in 1965/66.

Wigan, who have won their last seven games in all competitions, have lost midfielder or wing-back Roger Espinoza, who has undergone hernia surgery.

Midfielders Chris McCann (knee) and Ben Watson (broken leg) are both out of action for the rest of the season, Scottish international Shaun Maloney (hip) and skipper Gary Caldwell (Achilles’) are closing in on a return to action.

The Latics are currently in seventh, two places and four points ahead of the Blues with two games in hand.

At the DW Stadium in September, Ryan Shotton and Nick Powell scored a goal in either half to consign Town to a 2-0 defeat.

The result was harsh on the Blues, who hit the bar early on through Luke Chambers and had plenty of other chances.

The sides last met at Portman Road in a Carling Cup run third round tie in September 2008 which the Latics won 4-1.

The result flattered the visitors with all the goals coming in the second half. Lee Cattermole opened the scoring and Jon Walters equalised, before goals from Olivier Kapo, Paul Scharner and Henri Camara won the tie.

The teams last came up against one another at Portman Road in the league in the 2004/05 season in which Paul Jewell’s Wigan pipped Joe Royle's Blues to second in what’s now the Championship. Town finished third and lost in the play-off semi-final to West Ham

In the December, an 89th minute Darren Bent goal gave the Blues a dramatic victory over Wigan and took them ahead of the Latics at the top of the league.

After a goalless first half, a stupendous Leighton Baines 40-yarder put the visitors ahead but Richard Naylor and Bent gave the Blues the win they deserved.

Overall, Town have beaten the Latics twice (once in the league), have lost five times (four) and the teams have drawn one League Cup tie.

Town fitness coach Andy Liddell was a Wigan player between 1998 and 2004 and kit man Paul Beesley was at Springfield Park between 1984 and 1989.

Midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe recently joined the Latics on loan from Fulham having been with the Blues during the first half of the season, while veteran Wigan keeper Mike Pollitt, 42, made one appearance for the Blues during a curtailed loan spell in November 2006, a 3-1 home derby victory over Norwich City.

Saturday’s referee is David Coote from Nottinghamshire, who has shown 90 yellow cards and three red in 29 games so far this season.

Coote’s most recent Town match was the 2-1 defeat at Reading on the opening day of the season when he booked Tyrone Mings and Elliott Hewitt and one Royal.

Squad from: Gerken, Loach, Chambers, Richardson, Cresswell, Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Hyam, Green, Tabb, Wordsworth, Hunt, Edwards, Anderson, Williams, Murphy, Ebanks-Blake, Taylor.

Photo: Action Images

TimmyH added 21:11 - Mar 14 Another point to make on the hypothetical teams some posters have made above and that is Anderson who has largely played as a left midfielder in his career, only other alternative is Edwards and not Green. A position that needs to be looked at in the summer as well as others.
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JWM added 21:28 - Mar 14 I see the moaners are out on force before a ball has even been kicked!
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Seasider added 22:01 - Mar 14 Mick has said about stopping Wigan playing;so I fear we may see the likes of Green and his favorite Tabby returning. We looked so much better without them especially in the 2nd half at Yeovil when Tyrone Mings came on and Cressy moved further up field with Williams in the centre/roving. I suggest it will be difficult to set out to try and match up this opposition as their German manager has used three different formations in as many games. Uve could also change during the game; so perhaps at least to start 4.3.3.with basically the team that finished on Tuesday,except Paul Taylor on right replacing Paul A. I fear that Rosler is astute enough to put a fast wideman against Chambo as he would have seen footage or reports of the mare he had against Boro;so Mick must be prepared to change personnel and formation during the game. Mainly though do not have an inferiority complex on a day when a lot of the old Portman Road favorites will be in Legends before/after match;and give the crowd reason to get behind the team who have won more trophies than their counterparts,and hopefully Wigan could be a bit jaded after their recent exploits. COYB

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theobald1985 added 07:22 - Mar 15 totslly agree with seasider we have to get at wigan today be positive and not just try and strangle the game and nick a goal on a long ball or set play. we are good enough to do it we just need to set up to do it and be positve and the likes of taylor and williams must start and deffo no tabb
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stevelincsexile added 07:30 - Mar 15 Of all the matches I could not get to it had to be one as important as this but I will be there in mind if not in body . Make me happy all you lads oh and lasses( Paula who I met at the Birmingham game) and let me here you all the way up to Lincolnshire. COYB.
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hairbear added 07:32 - Mar 15 Funny that some people on this site calling for chambers to be dropped for a "natural" right back, when according to the player ratings on twtd chambers is having a better season than our "natural" left back. Cresswell who on many occasion has been called the best left back in the championship. Just an observation
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Surco72 added 07:53 - Mar 15 Jas0999 the reason some are calling for Cresswell at left midfield is that he is our most creative player and getting further forward allows him to do this whilst Mings is a very capable left back . MM tried it for second half against Yeovil and it was our most productive spell of the game , all be it that Williams was also on the pitch , but the left side looked very strong .

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karls_dad added 09:47 - Mar 15 Sadly i can see nothing but a reality check today, we are simply not good enough to handle these top teams, i appreciate that sounds soo negative, but MM will set out to be a defensive game and not really have a go for it attitude, Pretty much the same as normal. If we just sit back and invite them on well we know what will happen, MM,s team selections and tactics do make me wonder at times! as for play offs well that ain,t gonna happen, as above we just are not good enough YET! maybe next year we can be serious contenders should Mick have a few quid to spend, we have really done enormously well on a nothing budget, have ground out points here and there and over achieved for what we have! We shall finish a very respectable 10th or so, and look forward to the summer business and next season, looking forward to the game, and lets hope we can play some attacking football and show Wigan that we are to be an up and coming club!

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louisrf added 10:38 - Mar 15 Gerken Chambers Berra Smith Mings Skuse Taylor Cresswell Williams Murphy Ebanks-Blake This would be a brilliant line up, cresswell on left wing to join the attack but also to double up with mings on one of their biggest threats in Mcmannaman, with taylor and Williams in the side we have a hell of a lot goin forward but also with skuse infront of the cb we will be good defensively too. We can't just go in only being either attack or defensively minded we have to do both

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louisrf added 10:39 - Mar 15 That was supposed to be a diamond midfield
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josephgarrett added 11:05 - Mar 15 hi
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planetblue_2011 added 11:10 - Mar 15 Come on town I think we can win today even if Wigan are on a good run. Be good if we start with Williams & Taylor apart from that mick will have his usual team, not bothered as long as we win!! 2.1 town win, Murphy & Taylor to score. COYB
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josephgarrett added 11:14 - Mar 15 Gerken should start
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blueboy1981 added 14:25 - Mar 15 JWM ............. i think it's high time you understood the difference betweem 'moaning' as you put it, and constructive comment. I would have thought you should know the difference - but you very clearly DON'T.
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